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Even before Manchester City were drawn for the second season running in such a
forbidding Champions League group, the idea that they would make an
immediate impression always seemed a touch presumptuous or optimistic.

They are a talented team — even if Borussia Dortmund underlined how much they
have to learn at this level at the Etihad Stadium last night, not least from
a defensive perspective — but because one need only look through the history
of how English clubs have performed in the modern incarnation of the
European Cup to know that success almost always takes time.